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ASHUTOSH BHATTACHARJEE

DEPUTY MANAGER
PROTECTION CELL, AEGCL
GUWAHATI
NUMERICAL RELAYS
An Approach To Modern Relaying..
WHAT IS A PROTECTION RELAY ??
1. A protective relay is
an electrically operated switch.
2. Detect and isolate faults on
transmission and distribution
lines by opening and
closing circuit breakers.
3. Relays allow one circuit to switch
a second circuit which can be
completely separate from the
first.
4. Relays help us to monitor,
manage & control our Power
System Network in an intelligent
manner.

BASIC RELAY OPERATION
STAGE I : ELECTROMECHANICAL RELAYS
EARLY DESIGNS USING ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION PRINCIPLE..
HOW DO THEY OPERATE ?
An electric current through a conductor will produce a magnetic field at right angles to
the direction of electron flow. If that conductor is wrapped into a coil shape, the magnetic
field produced will be oriented along the length of the coil. The greater the current, the
greater the strength of the magnetic field, all other factors being equal.
The magnetic field produced by a coil of current-carrying wire can be used to exert a
mechanical force on any magnetic object, just as we can use a permanent magnet to
attract magnetic objects, except that this magnet (formed by the coil) can be turned
on or off by switching the current on or off through the coil.
And a negative torque restrains rotation.
STAGE II : SOLID STATE OR STATIC RELAYS
THESE RELAYS CAME TO EXISTENCE IN LATE 70s & STARTED
REPLACING THE EM RELAYS BY ELIMINATING THE SERIOUS
PROBLEM OF HANDLING MOVING PARTS & BURNING CONTACTS.

Static relays require a very little volt-ampere for their operation.
HOW DO THEY OPERATE ?
In a solid state relay, the incoming voltage and current waveforms are monitored by analog
circuits. The analog values are compared to settings made by the user via potentiometers in the
relay, and in some case, taps on transformers.
The incoming AC current is first converted into a small signal AC value, then the AC is fed into a
rectifier and filter that converts the AC to a DC value proportionate to the AC waveform. An op-
amp and comparator is used to create a DC that rises when a trip point is reached.

THESE RELAYS MOSTLY USE REED CONTACTS. THEREFORE
RELIABILITY IS PRACTICALLY ENHANCED.










DEFICITS WITH STAGE I & II
DEPENDABI LI TY & SECURI TY NOT ENOUGH
SPEED & ACCURACY
NO SELF CHECKI NG FACI LI TY
HI GHER BURDENS
NOT I MMUNE TO VARI ATI ON I N PARAMETERS OF
I NDI VI DUAL COMPONENTS [CT/PT ETC.]
CAN NOT BE PROGRAMMED I N ACCORDANCE
WI TH NEED
HI STORI CAL DATA STORAGE
AND MANY MORE.

STAGE III : NUMERICAL RELAYS
These are microprocessor-based relays in contrast to other relays that are electromechanically or
electronically controlled. These relays provide great precision and convenience in application in the
sophisticated electronic products. By combining several functions in one case, numerical relays also
save capital cost and maintenance cost over electromechanical & static relays.
The first protection devices based on microprocessors were employed in 1985. The widespread
acceptance of numerical technology by the customer and the experiences of the user helped in
developing the second generation numerical relays in 1990.
Today Numerical Relays are believed to be the heart & soul of balanced Power System Engineering.



Why Numerical Relaying ?
IN ADDITION :
OPERATION IN BRIEF
BASIC BLOCK DIAGRAM OF INTERNAL ARCHITECTURE OF A NUMERICAL RELAY
** NPR IS NUMERICAL PROTECTION RELAY
It is clear from the previous slide that Relaying Hardware of Numerical Relays can also be
used for the measurement purpose.

Analog input is feed into the anti aliasing filter which is a low pass filter. Output of this filter
is feed into the sample and hold circuit , frequency of sampling should be twice of our
highest frequency of interest (according to the nyquist criterion). If sampling frequency kept
low than aliasing input may occur.
after the sampling, signal are feed into the multiplexer, where all the signal get multiplexed
and we have a single signal. this signal is feed into the analog to digital converter. this digital
signal is feed into the microprocessor and microprocessor generates control signal according
to its input.

Newer technologies are becoming more complex to achieve a zero error status of operation
of modern Numerical Relays.


IN ASEB PRESENTLY NUMERICAL RELAYS ARE MAINLY BEING USED FOR
THREE DIFFERENT PROTECTION SCHEMES: -

1. DISTANCE PROTECTION
2. TRANSFORMER DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION
3. BACK UP OVER CURRENT & EARTH FAULT PROTECTION


MAKE TYPE OF RELAYS USED
SIEMENS DISTANCE/DIFFERENTIAL
AREVA / MICOM DISTANCE/DIFFERENTIAL/ BACK UP

SWITZER ENGG. LTD.(SEL) DISTANCE
TOSHIBA DISTANCE/DIFFERENTIAL

ABB DISTANCE/DIFFERENTIAL

GENERAL ELECTRIC DISTANCE/DIFFERENTIAL /BACK UP
SIEMENS
ABB
TOSHIBA
GE
SEL
MICOM / AREVA
A SNAPSHOT OF A FEW SOFTWARES USED FOR COMMUNICATING NUMERICAL
RELAYS
DIGSI FROM SIEMENS
ENERVISTA UR FROM GE
PROTECTION FEATURES OF NUMERICAL RELAYS
I n this case also, the relay has many different functions in one single unit:
(i) DI FFERENTI AL PROTECTI ON WI TH VECTOR COMPENSATI ON &
ADAPTABI LI TY TOWARDS ANY AVAI LABLE CT RATI O.











(ii) ADD ON STABI LI ZATI ON WI TH I NRUSH RESTRAI N (2
ND
& 3
RD
)
(iii) OVERFLUXING PROTECTI ON
(iv) RESTRI CTED EARTH FAULT PROTECTI ON
(v) BACK UP O/C & E/F PROTECTI ON
(vi) THERMAL OVERLOAD PROTECTI ON
(vii)UNDERFREQUENCY / (dF/dT) PROTECTI ON
The micro-controller continuously monitors the magnitude of the phase current and
the neutral current .whenever the phase current or the earth current magnitude exceeds the
present value corresponding line / earth element will pick up and relay will trip after time
interval calculated by the selected IDMT curves. Whenever the fault level exceeds the
selected high set range, the relay will trip for high set, ignoring the selected IDMT curves.
The timer logic is processed and after comparison with set time schedules, tripping signals
are issued accordingly. The output relays are programmable.

The relay rating (In) is field selectable either 1A or 5A. The relay has RS 485 com port which
can be used with Modbus protocol for communication purposes.

The auxiliary supply for the numeric relay is provided by a switch mode power supply unit
with input voltage either AC or DC with a wide operating voltage from 21-130 volts or 85-
275 volts. And in case of AC, the power supply is designed operate from 45HZ - 65HZ.
Again it is worth mentioning here that unlike EM relays no external connection is required
for zero sequence current / voltage calculation . The relay micro processor does it internally
saving substantial amount of complexity in the relay circuit.
Numerical back up protection goes way ahead in selecting any conventional operating curve
suggested by IEC or any other organization.
EACH NUMERICAL RELAY IS PROVIDED WITH COMMUNICATION INTERFACE
ENABLING IT TO CONNECT TO ONE OR MANY SUB-STATION LEVEL SYSTEMS
OR EQUIPMENTS EITHER ON THE SUB STATION AUTOMATION BUS OR SUB-
STATION MONITORING BUS. THESE COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS ARE ALSO
PUT IN USE FOR REMOTE OPERATION AND CONTROL OF THESE RELAYS.
I MAGI NE HERE SI TTI NG I N GUWAHATI WE CAN CONFI GURE / MONI TOR A
RELAY IN DIBRUGARH.

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